‘I just have the name Gio. The caller wasn’t very clear, I’m afraid, but we got the location, sounds like a leg injury and then the call cut out.’
As Bess went through the motions of getting her helmet while Brad gathered together the drugs and the bloods, she couldn’t help her head from going there – Gio had had a doctor’s appointment that didn’t go as expected, his goal of getting back to work to do the job he’d been trained for was slipping further away. Had he thrown himself down the steep hill on purpose? To somehow prove that he was just like everyone else and didn’t have an injury?
It was a short distance to Wildacre Meadow but as soon as they’d heard the location, Vik had gone out to the helipad to get Hilda ready. The surrounding roads would be impassable, theroads stretching beyond the same, meaning a road ambulance wouldn’t be able to reach the patient or get them to the help they needed.
The Skylarks flew over Whistlestop River. Visibility wasn’t great but at least it was daylight and Vik was experienced in landing in all types of conditions so fully understood the implications of flying and setting down a helicopter in ice and snow.
The good thing about Wildacre Meadow was that it had the steep incline but a nice level area as you reached the bottom of it. They’d needed that as kids, sliding down it on trays; Bess wasn’t sure she would’ve dared to do it otherwise. And today, it worked out well for the helicopter because there was plenty of space to land and a couple of helpful adults at ground level had kept the kids back and out of the way so that The Skylarks could keep everyone safe.
Bess had her mind on the job but knowing it was Gio in trouble changed things. She was more anxious, her heart was pounding, but she was together as much as she needed to be.
There were too many people at the bottom of the slope to see their patient. But soon, they were clear to leave the aircraft. They had kit bags and the scoop, all of which weighed so much more when you had to trudge through the snow, which was deeper in some parts than others. Bess made sure she had the specially designed thermal blanket with the rest of the kit. The air ambulance played a key role in a patient’s chances of survival – the job of The Skylarks would be to intervene on scene and prevent further deterioration of the patient until they could get them the further help they needed. Bess knew that in these temperatures, providing thermal management with the blanket was critical to maintain the patient’s core body temperature and prevent hypothermia and any further heat loss.
As they drew nearer to the crowd, they were waved over toone side near a tree. A tree that if hit at high speed, could be catastrophic.
Bess felt as though she was seeing things as they got to the patient and realised that it wasn’t Gio but a young boy, next to whom Gio was kneeling.
‘Thank God you’re here.’
Bess kept a level head. Gio wasn’t the patient. Gio wasn’t seriously hurt, at least not any more than he had been before today.
The boy’s name was Lionel, Gio told them as Brad reassured the boy that help had arrived. He was crying so much, terrified Bess suspected, but perhaps not as cold as he might be had Gio not covered him in his coat.
‘Gio, you must be freezing.’ Bess picked on someone in the crowd and asked them to run over to the helicopter. ‘Vik is the pilot, ask him for an extra blanket and bring it right back here.’ They’d use the thermal blanket on Lionel but even when Gio got his coat back, he’d probably need a bit of extra help to warm up.
Lionel likely had a broken ankle, a fractured wrist and some bruising. Brad had him sucking on a mouthpiece for gas and air to relieve some of the pain while he and Bess got him on the scoop ready for transfer.
‘It really hurts,’ Lionel sobbed when he let the mouthpiece fall from his lips.
‘I know, mate,’ said Gio, at his side.
‘Do you know him?’ Bess asked.
‘No, we met today, didn’t we, Lionel?’
Lionel managed a ghost of a smile. ‘He wanted to use my sledge.’ He registered The Skylarks’ logo on Bess’s jacket. ‘Am I going in a helicopter?’
‘You sure are,’ said Brad.
Before they’d got him on the scoop, Bess had radioed to find out the status of contacting the parents. Hudson had managed toreach them. They weren’t nearby, both were at work and closer to the hospital where they’d airlift Lionel to, so it was agreed they’d meet them there. As a result, it was suggested that Gio come in the helicopter so he didn’t have to navigate his way back up the hill on crutches. Lionel, at his age, height and build meant it could be done; they could take the extra weight.
Bess thought he was going to refuse but it was a big hill and when Gio looked back at it, he must’ve seen what a nightmare it was going to be.
Now that the pain relief was helping, Lionel chattered away, asking what their jobs were, who flew the aircraft, and then he asked Gio if he was a paramedic too.
‘No, not me,’ he answered.
‘He’s a fireman,’ Bess piped up because she had a sneaky suspicion Gio wasn’t going to say it.
Lionel’s eyes widened. ‘A real one?’
‘Yes, a real one. But I’m injured at the moment.’
‘Did you fall off a ladder?’ Lionel asked. Distraction – and in this case the gas and air – meant they didn’t have a scared little boy any more; they had one with a curiosity about the world.
‘There was an explosion. I was knocked off my feet,’ Gio replied as they lifted the scoop up ready to head back to Hilda.
‘You flew into the air?’ Lionel’s eyes were as wide as saucers.
